Black Fridayis coming up on Nov. 27, that big shopping day right after Thanksgiving. The folks at Record Store Daywill be releasing more than 140 releases that day, not to mention it’s new release day, with new stuff out from Bjork, Parquet Courtsand others. If you can't make it in to one of our stores on 11/27, there's still hope you can snag one of these titles. We'll be adding Record Store Day Black Friday releases to Amoeba.com throughout the day.

See a list (.pdf) of everything we’ll have for sale here, and check out our 12 picks for releases to look for on Black Friday below.

'80s electro-pop synth pioneer Gary Numan is set to release his 20th album, Splinter (Songs from a Broken Mind)(Machine Music Label) on Tuesday, October 15th. For over 35 years, Numan has been pushing the envelope with his innovative electronic music. Widely known for his mega hits, "Cars" and "Are Friends Electric?," Numan has a deep catalog that runs the gamut of sonics and musical styles from pop radio hits to underground industrial goth not for the faint-hearted. Over a span of seven years and personal turmoil including depression, midlife crises, and adjusting to fatherhood, Numan fell in and out of the writing process and struggled to comeplete the new album. But in 2012 it all changed, with a permanent relocation to Los Angeles, a happy home life and a brand new studio; Numan was back at it, full on.

The result is a whirlwind of emotional content set to the backdrop of plush synths and hard beats that make for a pretty epic production. In a recent interview Numan states, "the reason why the album is called Splinter (Songs from a Broken Mind) is because of the depression. I felt broken. That’s where that subtitle comes from. It’s not a nice thing at all." Fans can now pre-order the album via amoeba.com.

Enter a raffle to win tickets for you and a guest to see Nine Inch Nails perform an incredibly intimate release day show at The Troubadour in West Hollywood on Tuesday, September 3! Amoeba Hollywood will have raffle tickets for the show starting Monday, September 2 at 10pm. No purchase necessary to receive a raffle ticket, just come on down to Amoeba. Limit one raffle ticket per person.

Online registration of the raffle ticket is required at tour.nin.com/troubadour by 9:00 AM Pacific on Tuesday, September 3 (day of the show). Winning raffle ticket numbers will be tweeted by @nineinchnails by 10:00 AM Pacific that same day. Keep your raffle ticket in your possession. Do not lose it!

You can purchase the new Nine Inch Nails album, Hesitation Marks, starting at 10pm on Monday night at Amoeba Hollywood. It's available on CD, Deluxe CD (which includes a hardcover book packaging and 3 bonus tracks) and on 180gm vinyl.

If you purchase Hesitation Marks on Monday night, you'll get a free item (while supplies last) from Coolhaus, which will be parked outside Amoeba with delicious treats, including a custom NIN flavor ice cream sandwich. We'll also have NIN button packs as a gift with purchase of the album (while supplies last).

Congrats to our latest contest winner, Kyle Watson. He won a pair of VIP tickets to see Depeche Mode at Staples Center Sept. 29, courtesy of Razorgator. They’ll be playing in support of their latest album, the terrific Delta Machine.

Don’t forget to sign up for our other contests — right now, you can win a signed copy of the new Nine Inch Nails LP, Hesitation Marks. Their eighth studio album (and first since 2007’s Year Zero) is due Sept. 3; you can win an autographed two-disc, 180 gram vinyl copy. Enter here now; contest ends Sept. 3!

You can also win tickets to see the Pet Shop Boys Oct. 12 at the Shrine Auditorium here (contest ends Sept. 16) and tickets to see Vampire Weekend at the Hollywood Bowl Sept. 28 here (contest ends Sept. 20). Make sure to always check our frequently updated Contests page to see what we have going on.

The year is 1994. Here we are in the middle of the 90s. This list of my favorite 10 albums of 1994 was not hard to come up with. But I honestly can't think of too many other albums that I loved this year other than these 10. I listened to a lot less music back in 1994. What I mean to say is that I listened to a lot less different bands. I listened to music a lot and it was a big part of my life. But in these mid 90s years I mostly listened to the same artists and albums over and over again. I was very into Britpop throughout the mid 90s. But there are really only two albums on this 1994 list that were really classified as Britpop. But there are some big albums missing from my list this year. Definitely Maybe by Oasis was of course also released in 1994. But I am saving them for my 1995 list. Blur released Parklife and Suede released Dog Man Star in 1994. And these albums was also a big part of my life and two of my favorites of the year. But I have already picked my favorite Blur and Suede albums for 1993. Split by Lush was another one of my favorites of 1994. But I already have them in my 1992 list. Maybe I should take another look at my self made rule of only putting one album by each band in my entire 90s list. But I still think it is a good idea. I don't need to keep talking about each band over and over again. And I always have my favorite one album for each band. There is just also usually a second album by each band that I love almost as much. Both 1993 and 1994 were two of my favorite years of the 90s. They were very similar and included many of the albums that I can't imagine my life without. Six of the albums on my list for 1994 were from bands from England. So no surprise there.
So here it is. My top ten albums of 1994...